Having shirt-tail shanty Irish relations from Wellsville, Ohio and Harlan County, Kentucky, I can attest that this is one of the best portrayed series that has ever been on TV.

BTW, Raylan Givens is one of the baddest Mo'Fo' on television.....My biggest complaint is that he was drinking Beam on last night's episode. I would have preferred he was drinking Woodford or Maker's but still a great program.

Yes, I love this show. I've read a lot of Elmore Leonard, adn one of my favorite things about the show to begin with was how "Elmore Leonardy" the characters were. I think they've lost some of that quirkiness by now but it's still a great show.

Walton Goggins who playes Boyd Crowder has fast become one of my favorite actors on the tube. Dude is awesome.

The first six episodes of Justified were Law and Order style boring. Picked up some pace and the last three of last season were great (leading into this season which has been great).

That said there is little depth or emotion in the show. It still hasn’t touched Season 2 Sons of Anarchy quality (don’t get me started on the season 3 suck). I actually think I still prefer Lights Out right now (sadface).

Good show. Quality show in a time period where most of TV sucks and Community and Parks and Rec are carrying everything else (holy fuck last weeks Community was a piece of art).

But mentioning it with The Wire?

Not even similar.

Comping it to The Shield is solid. And this week did bring some serious acting into the equation, with Raylon and Momma Bennett going off. Who knew Timothy Olephant could act? Oh wait, he’s still just playing the same character he has been playing for five years….

And as much as I like Boyd they gotta shit or get off the pot with this introspective bullshit. Too strong of an actor to keep this going.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I tried to watch the show.... I really did. But I dropped out about 6 episodes into season 1. I was thinking Seth Bullock, but I got something different.

Same here. The first season focused too much on stand-alone episodes where Raylan just went after an idiot bad guy instead of focusing enough on the serial story of Raylan vs. Boyd. I heard good things from Simmons' TV guy (Alan Sepinwall) so I started watching it again with the start of season 2 and it's been much better than season 1. The character of Mags Bennett especially has been fantastic. Still no where near The Wire though. Blasphemy to mention them in the same sentence really.

Really the one thing I don't like about the show seems to be the one thing everyone loves: The dialogue. This is bum-fuck Kentucky and all these people talk like they're reading Descartes or in a Shakespearean play, Boyd especially though he can pull it off. The young girl that Mags Bennett took in is the worst. One piece I remember specifically for how unbelievable it was was an exchange between her and Raylan where Raylan shows up at the store unexpectedly and she says:

"Marshall may I inquire as to your intentions today?"

I've lived in Cincinnati and been to Kentucky many times and knew people from Kentucky; that's not Kentucky, not even close, especially from a 13-year old girl who doesn't even go to school. In Kentucky they'd say, "Whatchu here fo'? or "Whatchu want?" Just completely takes me out of the element of the series. I know it's Elmore Leonard but I just can't get past it.

In mentioning "The Wire" and "Justified" together was to indicate good, fun to watch programs..........No intent to step on anyone's grail...............

The characters portrayed on Justified are an amalgam of people that come out of that area....Believe it or not, there are some educated folk in Harlan that preferred to be recognized as "Mountain William" people......However, most of the others are generally seen as summer teeth, red-neck, ramp-eating, coal-mining, black-land farmers living on the "tops" and in the holler.........And there are plenty of those, too..

I said meh half way through the season here when this show was running a 7 episode hot streak after a crappy (not really crappy, just not my style) first half of the first season, but the progression of this season has really taken this up a notch.

I mean Season 2 here is mentionable with Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Not on an all-time list, but talk about an effing show finding itself. Last night’s finally was amazing.

My skepticism was wrong and I’m really glad I stuck with this through it’s growing pains.

The parallels between this show’s awesomeness and Winter’s Bone are hard to ignore. Almost makes me like some rednecks.

Damn, I can't wait to watch the finale now. I liked this show last season, but you're right, this season kicks last season's ass. Mags Bennet was just a great idea for the "villain", if that's what she is.

I do wish the characters were still just as Elmore Leonardy as I thought they were in the pilot, but there is still some of that, even if it does seem muted a bit now.

Losing last season's baddie Margo Martindale, the writers have gone for quantity over quality. Enough bad guys to last the season, even though the Gunfighter and the Business Turd were eliminated pretty quickly. Neal McDonough, Jere Burns, Mykelti WIlliamson. Am I missing anyone? Oh, yeah, the best of all, Boyd Crowder!

Only two episodes to go in Season 4. And the shit will fly. Colt and Nicky Augustine are definitely gonna catch a couple silver bullets from Raylan's six-shooter. Winn Duffy and Limehouse may be short-timers, too. Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Boyd put an end to Cousin Johnny's "evil, back-stabbing ways," either.